MARK MULRONEY
New Works on Paper

July 27 to August 27, 2017

Ampersand is pleased to present an exhibition of new works on paper by Mark Mulroney, his second solo show at the gallery. Always one to appropriate, mix and reimagine, Mulroney here culls from vintage How-to-Draw books and instructional manuals for amateur photographers, their images stripped to essentials for easy copying by students. Noting his interest in the dichotomy of their dry factualness or seductive melodrama, he aligns these tropes to create a narrative built on one carefully selected line rather than the long list of details common to much of his work. Figures converse not only with other how-to counterparts, but also cartoon characters and Mulroney’s own singular iconography, his dripping flesh, bent nails, exaggerated breasts and sensual fruit and flora. The works are spare and therefore somehow more inherently interactive. Questions linger over the work. Apart from suggestive titles, we are left to speculate on the words shared between one actor and another. Why black and white and not Mulroney’s standard lush colors? And for a draftsman who can seemingly imagine, paint and draw anything, why play the temporary, albeit embellished, role of a novice copyist? 

Mark Mulroney lives and works in Syracuse, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include Mark Likes Baseball at Park Life Gallery in San Francisco and Another Smile here at Ampersand in December, 2015. A series of his original carbon transfer drawings titled Dogs Bleeding Evil was published by Ampersand in Fall of 2015, available here.